What wood is this?

I have an 1891 row house in Brooklyn. One of my newel post finials is
missing. But neighbors with identical houses still have theirs. So a friend
of mine that is adept with a lathe has offered to make me a new one. We
have photographed and measured it. But what is the wood? A fellow that I
once was going to hire to make it said white oak. Then my friend thought it
was Douglas fir. But a friend of his that comes from Eastern Canada says it
is definitely yellow pine, and pointed out several features that are
inconsistent with Douglas fir. Now the only pine in my house is the floors.
And the wainscoting near the finial is oak. My friend says oak is easier to
turn. What do you guys think it is? [Warning, this was not reduced in size,
so it is 441MB.]

You're virtually 100% mistaken, too. That absolutely is not oak of any sort,
especially not white oak. The photograph shows vertical grain, which in any
oak, would show significant ray flakes -- which are particularly prominent in
white oak, and utterly absent in the photograph.

You're right, the visible grain *is* conclusive -- it conclusively shows it's
*not* oak.
It's white *ash*.
Ash is frequently mistaken for oak, particularly when stained. You're not the
first person to make that error, and you won't be the last, either. The two
are very, very similar in grain -- except for the prominent rays that are
unmistakeable in oak, and non-existent in ash.

Hellooooo.... it's a *round* object, which exposes *all* aspects of the grain.
Rift-sawn grain is visible at the left of the photo -- but look at the right
side of the photo, where the grain is perfectly vertical, perfectly
quartersawn. If it were white oak, or any other kind of oak, there would be
rays visible there.
There aren't. Therefore, that is *not* oak.
You're not the first person to mistake ash for oak, and you won't be the last,
either -- but mistake it you did.

It certainly isn't pine or fir, but it also absolutely _is_not_ oak. Oak has
very prominent, unmistakeable rays that are clearly visible in vertical
(quartersawn) grain -- and completely absent in that photograph.
It's ash.

just the finial, not the whole post?
The finial is PROBABLY the same wood as the rest
of the post. Drill into that, in a spot
where the new finial will cover it.
You should be able to decide if it's
pine/fir by smelling the sawdust.
Actually, if you can find a spot
that's not finished, you might be
able to heat it with a blowdrier enough
to smell.

The wood certainly looks like oak. If I had to guess, without the
photo, I would have guessed yellow pine. Yellow pine was harder in the
old days and wood moldings often faux painted. I have no clue how
machining oak would go, but that is a beauty. That black gunk is
probably old wax mixed with dirt and might come off with mineral
spirits, which can dull the wood.

With that porous grain, it certainly is NOT any pine nor fir. I cannot see
any rays so I would have to agree that it probably is ash. Today's wood will
not have that tight grain seen in the photo, must have been some virgin
forest that it was cut from in 1891, weren't they all virgin forests back
then? .
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